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New Day

Pictures of Fidel Castro Surface; Impact Your World; President Obama's Rejection; Five Years Since McStay Family Murders

Aired February 03, 2015 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro resurfacing. Cuba's state-run media claims these are new pictures of Castro you're about to see. They are the first images of him in almost six months.

Take a look at that.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann has the latest live from Havana.

Patrick, why now?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's a great question. Really, the reason is the rumors just wouldn't go away. Of course, these are the rumors that had been swirling now for months that Fidel Castro was dead, was in a very poor state of health, and that was the reason he hadn't commented on the landmark deal between Cuba and the United States to normalize relations.

Even when Fidel Castro did publish letters and articles talking about that deal, people still didn't really believe it. And the article today mentions that, saying that people here in Cuba were anxious. So it seems very clear that the government and Fidel Castro wanted to allay some of those fears, wanted to really let Cubans in particular know that the former Cuban leader is alive and well.

And these images that we see really seem to demonstrate that. These are 21 images. I don't remember ever a time when we've gotten so many images released of Fidel Castro showing him very engaged, listening, talking, holding a three-hour chat with a university leader here and really talking about a wide variety of subjects. You know, of course, will this make all the rumors about Fidel Castro and his health disappear? Probably not. But at least for the moment, we expect the rumors that Fidel Castro is in ill health, not doing well to probably subside at least for the time being.

Michaela.

CAMEROTA: Patrick, I'm going to take it for one second just because don't the -- the newspaper that he's reading, that's significant, right? It shows images of the Alan Gross Cuban spy prisoner exchange.

OPPMANN: Absolutely, and that helps us verify as much as we can because, of course, all information we get from Fidel Castro, all the images we get come from the Cuban government, which has been known to manipulate images. But, you know, we see in this newspaper there are images of the Cuban spies, the three spies who were released as part of that deal that allowed Alan Gross to be freed, so we can - we know that happened after December.

It seems to fit with the time frame that the student writes about in the article today. Of course, we have no way of independently confirming it, but we have to say that our sources here have been telling us for weeks to expect -- to hear more from Fidel Castro and that could include more from Fidel Castro about this - negotiations going on to normalize Cuba and U.S. relations after 50 years of bad blood.

CAMEROTA: OK, Patrick Oppmann, thanks so much.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go with the five things you need to know for your new day.

At number one, a deep freeze is taking aim at the Midwest and northeast. Ice cold temperatures turning all of that snow into dangerous ice. Boston, in fact, set a new record for snow in a week with more than 40 inches.

A measles outbreak that began in California spreading now across the nation. The Centers for Disease Control say there are 102 cases now in 14 states. Nevada health officials say they have a confirmed case in their state.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro resurfaces. Cuban's state-run media claims these are pictures and they are real. Less than two weeks ago reportedly they were taken.

The late Whitney Houston's daughter is fighting for her life. Sources tell CNN Bobbi Kristina Brown, who is in a medically induced coma, suffered seizures on Monday.

Super Bowl XLIX was a smash hit in the ratings department. And 114.4 million viewers watched the Patriots and the Hawks, making it the most watched televised event in U.S. history.

We do update those five things to know, so be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Max - Mic. Mic, Mack, whatever.

CNN's "Impacts Your World" offers you ways to do something to help situations that we cover. Now often that could mean supporting a charity. But these days charity can mean many things. So we're going to break down some options for when you're looking to give. That's what this "Impact Your World" is about.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Charity, it seems pretty straightforward, right? You give money to an organization, they take that money and make sure it gets where it needs to go. Simple enough. Well, as it turns out, charity, like most things, is more complicated than it seems. First off, pretty much anyone can raise money these days, either using a crowd funding site like Go Fund Me, or by crowdsourcing help for a problem.

So when it comes to big charities, many operate a little bit like an investment fund. The idea is, they make a profit on your dollar so they can make it go farther. In fact, that's how some non-profit CEOs justify those hefty salaries. They say they're very good at squeezing the most out of your donations so they deserve to be paid as well. Like that? Well, that's just how it is.

Confused? Maybe you should be because we haven't even gotten to the so-called venture capital philanthropy yet. That's where instead of giving money to say a university doing cancer research, a foundation might instead invest in a private company studying a cure. Different approaches, but all with the same goal, making your donation more efficient, in theory at least, but the truth is, when it comes to efficiency, not all charities are created equally.

So, before you donate, go online, do a little research. It won't hurt you. And you find out exactly where your donation is going. Check out how your nonprofit uses its money, how effective it is. They should tell you how many cents on every dollar they put to the cause. After all, if you're going to give away your hard earned dollars, you want to know that the charity's out there working as hard as possible for those who need them the most.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Great advice, Chris. Thanks so much.

In a new interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, the president refuses to call ISIS an Islamist terror group. So do his words affect the fight against ISIS? We'll dig deeper on that topic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: In a new interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, President Obama again refuses to call ISIS an Islamist terror group. So does the president's reluctance to label ISIS as radical Islamists hurt the fight against them? Let's dig deeper on this with Dr. Qanta Ahmed. She's the author of "In the Land of Invisible Women."

Great to have you back, doctor. Nice to see you.

DR. QANTA AHMED, AUTHOR, "IN THE LAND OF INVISIBLE WOMEN": Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Let me play for you exactly what President Obama said about why he doesn't want to label these terrorists. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't quibble with labels. I think we all recognize that this is a particular problem that has roots in Muslim communities. We do ourselves a disservice in this fight if we are not taking into account the fact of the overwhelming majority of Muslims reject this ideology.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, Dr. Ahmed, what do you think of his rationale there?

AHMED: President Obama's very intriguing in his statement as he begins, from the outset, saying he doesn't quibble with labels. But our administration currently is hallmarked by an inability to even talk about this language or regulate the language in which we're describing these problems.

CAMEROTA: They're struggling with it?

AHMED: And he's in a difficult and sensitivity position. He does represent our country in all kinds of diplomatic situations where he is engaging with Islamist governments. Iran is an good example. Until - President Sisi, Egypt was a good example. The United States was the first to recognize the Muslim Brotherhood elected.

CAMEROTA: So is that why he doesn't want to label it?

AHMED: It may be one reason. And he also makes a legitimate observation, which is that he is reluctant as the leader of the United States to give the impression that all Muslims are responsible for this extremism. That I share with him. But we have to name the ideology, however problematic the name is, as Islamists because it truly has based its 20th century origins in my religion. And that reality is something that has to be exposed. Islamism is not a religion, that's for Muslims to explain. But Islamism is conducting a violent, a nonviolent assault on our values globally.

PEREIRA: This is heavy stuff for the American public to wrap their brains around because, again, this is a newish conversation for us. Are we getting too caught up in labels instead of being concerned about intent and about how we react?

AHMED: A very fair point. I think that it's more than labels. A basic concept we have to recognize. The United States is imperiled internationally, as, for instance, France was recently at the hands of a totalitarian ideology. Totalitarianism is something that Americans understand. They remember communism, which is still vital in some places in the world. They remember Nazism. Islamism is simile totalitarian. What that means is it seeks to control the lives and regulate individuals --

PEREIRA: Absolutely.

AHMED: In total control and must manufacture a cosmic enemy at its center, which is usually anti-Semitism. That's true of Nazi totalitarianism and it's true of Islamism totalitarianism.

CUOMO: The game that they're playing, and it is a game, because at the end of the day, picking what words to use politically is about how to position yourself, how to make sure you don't expose yourself to enough criticism, but it's having the reverse effect. Part of it is that all these words sound the same. Islam, Islamic, Islamist, Islamism. You know, people hear them and they say, well, they're all the same thing. You're talking about Islam. I get that there are distinctions. What is wrong with saying this is radical extremist Islam? Because it is Islam. They believe it is, whether you want to disagree with it or not as a Muslim yourself, right? I mean isn't that the reality?

AHMED: So that's a great and a brave question. And certainly when we're having this conversation let's say in our living rooms, it is reasonable to say the actions of Boko Haram or ISIS represent a radicalized version of Islam. My problem with it is it means that only violent manifestations of extremist expression of my religion are identified as a threat. Nonviolent manifestations, including confining our dialogue, false calls of Islamophobia, those are also Islamist acts. They may not look radical because they don't involve violence, but they are radically changing our --

CUOMO: So call that radical Islam as well.

PEREIRA: But is that not legitimizing it by calling it that?

AHMED: So this was the president and also some military leaders interviewed on this network are saying, we don't want to give them the legitimacy to say that they're representing Islam. It's not for us to give the legitimacy. They've already seized legitimacy by seeking shelter in my faith.

CUOMO: Right.

PEREIRA: Interesting.

AHMED: And we are not at a point of declaring war, but war has been declared on secular pluralistic democracy. Because Islamism is totalitarian, it is seeking to replace our kind of world. The president also referred in his remarks that United States is not under any existential threat and I would agree with him. We're a very robust country, robust democracy, as is Britain, Canada, Australia, and France, but how we talk about these things is clearly being affected by new sentiments of Islamophobia. We've seen that, as you've mentioned, recently in style guides for Al Jazeera.

CAMEROTA: Which we have right here. I mean, Al Jazeera, which is an international, a global network, they just recently put out a style guide saying that their reporters and anchors can no longer use the words "extremists", "terrorists", "Islamist". So it's one thing for the administration to be politically correct, but what happens when the media stops using these words?

AHMED: So very -- that's very shocking and you just educated me on that this morning. Also BBC Arabic has had the same conversation where they're refusing to call the Charlie Hebdo jihadists as terrorists. So when the media gets involved in regulating the conversation, I think that there is an attempt to avoid exposing the public to what is actually unfolding. The intentions I don't know. The media networks may be afraid --

CUOMO: The concern is exposing themselves to criticism, right, because they're playing to the base of their audience?

AHMED: Or physical attack. Let's not forget Charlie Hebdo occurred in an editorial office. So there may be all kinds of motives, but it's up to the American public, highly educated and informed, to reclaim the conversation.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Qanta Ahmed, we love having you on. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

AHEMD: My pleasure. Thank you.

PEREIRA: All right. A five-year mystery with no clear answer -- who killed the McStay family? Our Randi Kaye spoke with the man charged with their murder. We'll talk to her about what led authorities to him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Tomorrow will mark five years since the McStay family disappeared from their home in Fallbrook, California. They were found dead four years ago. CNN's Randi Kaye has been following this case very closely. She spoke exclusively with the man now accused of murdering the family, Charles Chase Merritt.

Tonight Randi's CNN's special report, "CHASING A KILLER: INSIDE THE MCSTAY FAMILY MURDERS" looks at what led to Merritt's arrest. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Early on, friend and business associate Chase Merritt was on top of the list.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Detectives are taking a close look at Joseph McStay's business relationships.

KAYE: He spoke to us in his only television interview.

CHARLES CHASE MERRITT, ACCUSED OF MCSTAY FAMILY MURDERS: I was the last person who saw them so of course I was a person of interest.

KAYE: Did detectives ask you if you killed Joseph McStay and his family?

MERRITT: I don't recall them asking me that.

KAYE: Nothing that direct?

MERRITT: Huh?

KAYE: Nothing that directly?

MERRITT: No, I don't recall him being that direct.

KAYE: You took a polygraph test. What did it show?

MERRITT: I don't know.

KAYE: You passed the polygraph?

MERRITT: Apparently. I mean, I haven't -- I kind of simply assumed, well, apparently that -- that resolved any issues that they may be looking at with me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Randi Kaye joins us live from Los Angeles. Randi, good to see you. I followed this story vividly and I recall it vividly, having worked in the Los Angeles market for yours. What finally led them to this man, to Chase Merritt, this friend, this associate, that had sort of been looked at from the beginning?

KAYE (on camera): Absolutely. And when we sat down with him, Michaela, he told me he was Joseph McStay's best friend. So it's so interesting that here he is now facing these murder charges for this family of four.

But San Bernardino County took over this case and they told that they had been watching Chase Merritt for about a year, 24/7, before he was arrested. And there were some inconsistencies with his stories, but he was also the first person at the house after the family disappeared. They weren't sure what he was doing there. So that has raised some questions. He lives in Hesperia, California, which isn't too far from the Mojave Desert where their remains were found.

There were 100 pieces of evidence that were found at the gravesite in the desert so they're looking at those. There also may have been some tire tracks that they're looking at. They wouldn't be fully forthcoming about what they found in the desert, but it certainly raised some eyebrows. And there was blood spatter from blunt force trauma at the house, and they believe that that home was clean. So if you put Chase Merritt as the first person at the house, they're definitely looking at that.

PEREIRA: It's interesting when you look at all of the evidence that was stacked up against him, he passed the polygraph though, and when you sat down to talk to him, he claimed that he had no idea what happened, no clue what happened to this family. They clearly saw inconsistencies here in his story as well.

KAYE: Absolutely. I mean, there was the last phone call, which they really keyed in on at 8:47 p.m. the night of February 4th when the family disappeared all those years ago. Chase Merritt's story about whether he answered the phone or didn't answer the phone -- the call came in from Joseph McStay's cell phone to Chase Merritt's cell phone. He told us that he didn't answer the phone but he had said in other cases that he had answered the phone. So they were definitely looking at that.

And there was also the case of lunch that day, on the day that the McStays disappeared. Chase Merritt had lunch with Joseph McStay at a Chick-Fil-a in California. He told us that Joey was really happy that day and they were celebrating some big business coming in. But in other cases he spoke with Patrick McStay, the grandfather in this case, and he had told Patrick that Joey and he had had a fight and that Joey wasn't happy with some of the work he was doing. So we're not really sure which case is fact.

PEREIRA: Well, now there's an even I guess more bizarre twist. I understand that a judge has granted him permission to represent himself? I was shocked by this.

KAYE: And so was the judge actually. I mean, the judge tried to talk him out of it. He told him several times that this is unadvisable. But he kept saying, I want to do it, I want to do it. And the reason he wants to do it, apparently, is he says he's not a healthy man. His lawyer has said that he has congestive heart failure. He seems to think he has six or eight months or so to live so he wants to move this trial along. So now he's going to represent himself. And he could end up very well cross-examining and questioning people who he says we should be looking closer at. So certainly taking the blame off him. So it's going to be a very interesting trial if it even gets to that.

PEREIRA: It is a very confounding story. We appreciate, Randi, all your reporting on it and your great efforts. In fact, we want to point people to your special, CNN special report, "CHASING A KILLER: INSIDE THE MCSTAY FAMILY MURDERS". It airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Mick, listen to this one. You think you're dedicated to your job out there. Would you walk 21 miles round trip to get there every day? And if you did, could you imagine never missing a day under those circumstances? Well, this man on your screen from Detroit, that's what he does. But what's being done for him, it's the Good Stuff coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right, here's the Good Stuff. Today's edition, we'll call him the walking man, James Robertson from Detroit. James' car gave out back in 2005. No money for another. So ever since he has walked and bussed the 21 miles to and from his factory job, rain or shine, no matter what. Imagine that.

Here's what keeps him going.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES ROBERTSON, MAN WALKS TO AND FROM WORK: Do you know how long it took me to find a job? I can't imagine not working. I didn't want to end up, you know, doing nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: The media actually helped. The "Detroit Free Press" got a hold of his story. People have offered their cars to drive in droves. Some are offering bikes. One person offered a daily chauffeur service.

CAMEROTA: Hello, I'll take that.

CUOMO: A local car dealer offered James his choice of new cars. And the icing on the cake, a local college student started a GoFundMe site for James. The original goal: $5000. Right now? Wait for it, see it, 140,000 bucks.

CAMEROTA: What's he going to do? What's he going to buy?

CUOMO: I don't know. We're going to have follow up on this story.

PEREIRA: Can we follow up with this?

CUOMO: Should we?

He's overwhelmed by the generosity, plans to keep working. He says he hasn't missed a day of work and he won't start right now. 59 years old, late '50s, he's the Good Stuff.

CAMEROTA: All right, we'll stay on it for developments.

CUOMO: And so are you for helping me. Lot of news this morning, let's get you to the "NEWSROOM" and Carol Costello.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEWSROOM": Oh, thanks. Have a great day.

"NEWSROOM" starts now.